#if I came from outer space my powers would be similar to a black hole

[kaissauce]

okay, phucker, do it

ok let's do this @rolli-zolli @ninikins

Horrortale: technically an alternate timeline instead of au. after a neutral run where undyne's queen the core malfunctions and food becomes scarce and people resort to eating humans because sans suggested it. Aliza is the protag. latest thing that happened in the ongoing comic was Aliza agreeing to go with Papyrus to solve his last puzzle. as for the appearance of sans he has a HUGE hole on his head and a red eye. he got the hole from undyne when she got his magic eye which was going to be used to power the core. sans didnt die tho and killed the guards holding him down and just took whatever eye was on the ground and used it as a replacement for his magic eye that's powering the core. i quote first words he said after putting the eye in his socket "who the fuck took my phone?". then the magic eye went apeshit and broke the core again. oh and also he made alphys braindead by quite literally scrambling her brain. yeah this au is rough sans hasn't really eaten anything since the core was destroyed since he decided not to eat any humans.

Dusttale: i think this was originally a korean au? basic rundown: too many genocide runs sans goes apeshit and tries to get his Lv up by killing monsters himself man went fuckin insane kills his brother blah blah blah edgy angsty au the ghost of papyrus haunts him n stuff. sans literally just looks the same except he has his hood on and sometimes artists draw him with papyrus's scarf. the cool artists draw him with his hood on and has the hood completely cover his face so u can only see his glowing pupils. although people call him dust sans he's actually named murder sans

Killer: so frickin similar to dusttale except sans goes apeshit because of the human being like "join me lmao". three different outcomes come from this. i think it was 1 sans joins human 2 sans joins human kills human later on 3 kills human or something. friends with color sans who is basically his impulse control. pretty sure his soul's fucked up and Color sans tries to make his soul un-fucked but Nightmare comes in and fucks up the progress. he has white shorts, his eye sockets are constantly pitch black and leaking tar or something also has a weird target thingy on his chest. OH YEAH ALSO HE HAS BEEF WITH UNDERSWAP SANS ALMOST FORGOT. basically swap sans tried to make killer good and then they had a fight, swap sans lost and was on the verge of dying thankfully swap papyrus was able to save him in time i think

Dreamtale: Dream isn't in the drawing but his brother, Nightmare is. Sooo he used to not look all goooy and have tentacles n stuff but then he ate a couple hundred apples and yeah. he's six years old apparently. Nightmare and Dream are supposed to be guardians of a tree that has 500 golden apples and 500 black n goopy apples. the golden aples are positive and the goop ones are negative. you're not supposed to eat either of them cus bad shit happens. Dream and Nightmare live in a village and for whatever reason they're all dicks to Nightmare because ooughh he's the guardian of negativity that's not baller. he also goes apeshit (do u see a pattern here) and eats a goopy apple n then becomes the goop man he is today. he fuckin eats 999 apples jesus christ. and the last one is eaten by Dream because if u eat all 1000 apples u become unstoppable and immortal. so that would be a bad thing if nightmare got the last one. wop wop wop these dude aren't sanses they only have the body of one if that makes sanse.

Error: manlet. he's literally an error and that's why he's like that. also he's technically not a sans now, the redesign for him was so that he could be in the creator's webcomic named Lucidia. Error sans, aka the destroyer of aus, finds aus to be mistakes so he tries to get rid of them. his process of doing this is simple: get the human soul to the void so that they can't reset, destroy the au. he primarily attacks using his strings which can wrap around one's soul and control them. he like some aus like outertale because of how open and empty it is. he likes to be alone and has haphephobia. if u touch him he'll glitch out and possibly crash. he crashes whenever gets overwhelmed. said crashing causes him to shut down and reboot and he's powerless while doing so. he's actually pretty easy to beat if you know how to push his buttons the right way. in the og ask error blog made by his creator Loverofpiggies he kidnaps Swap sans who tries to help Error become a better person. this ends horribly as error leaves Swap sans in the void who then becomes an error aswell due to being alone in the void too long. Error actually regrets doing that to swap sans

Aftertale: OK FUN FACT THE SANS OF THIS AU, WHO'S NICKNAMED "Geno" IS ERROR. aftertale is a comic made by LoverofPiggies it's been SOOOO long since i last read it so i cant really give a good summary. but anyways Geno is trapped in the loading screen with the human and will die if he leaves the loading screen. eventually from being in the loading screen for too long after the events of aftertale he becomes Error.

OOF WOWIE THERE'S SO MUCH TO GO

Underfresh: he's not even a sans either. "Fresh" is a parasite inhabiting a skeleton. his birthday is on 4/20 which is ironic cus he doesn't like drugs. he censors swears. he speaks 90's lingo and dresses like a neon sign. for some reason he has eyebrows and a gold tooth. the glasses he has can change text but normally defaults to "YOLO". he can't feel anything since he has no soul of his own and just latches onto the host's. instead he learns how to act from the people around him. not being able to feel actually bothers him a LOT

Echotale: Aka Gaster sans. uhhh this one was also a comic if i remember correctly. basically Frisk and G!Sans are the only ones in the au and they're trying to find the core to fix the fucked up timeline that they're in but the core keeps changing positions so that sucks.

Swapfell: originally made by Khhoppang who left social media. Started out as an Alphys x Undyne au so only those two were designed but Kh was planning to design more of the characters. before they could people had a field day with the idea of mashing two aus together and SO many people came up with their own designs for sans and papyrus. Khhoppang left social media because they got overwhelmed with all the art reposters and stuff, pretty sad. the appearance of the sans in that au is the purple one with a scythe (i dont think he has a scythe in the og design).

Swapfell Red: so basically this is the swapfell made by people that isn't Khhoppang. community made per se. Sans's appearance changes constantly because as said before many people made many different designs. typically he just looks like Swap sans but with red high heel boots and his color scheme fits underfell

Fellswap (gold): Au made by blackggggum. so swapfell is underswap turned fell, fell swap is underfell swapped it takes a bit to understand that. his appearance is somewhat similar to Swapfell red. He's kind to his friends but if ur his enemy he'll fucking deck you. he's blind in his left eye, the leader of the royal guard, and secretly into dressmaking. fun fact in this au Papyrus has autism

Xtale: uuuuhhhh so Cross is a complicated one. he's part of the royal guard along with papyrus. has beef with xgaster. responsible for the downfall of his au and then Underverse happens and Ink is all "oh cool someone to mess with" and they became friends for a bit then shit hit the fan

Underfell: OOOOO YES UNIRONICALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITES. So Underfell sans is actually a very powerful mf and constantly has his magic eye activated because he has so much magic. This au is also technically an alternate timeline where monsters "lost their humanity" as the creator put it. so basically trust in the underground is scarce. Sans and papyrus, contrary to many interpretations i fucking hate, are actually on good terms (and no sans doesn't call papyrus "boss" the creator said if he does he'd do it ironically and papyrus would hate it). Fun facts he pays Grillby in socks (grillby accepts the socks as payment and wears them), if u make grillby laugh he gives u a jacket that looks like his and it's heavily implied that sans made him laugh because their jackets are similar

Underswap: ah yes another classic that i love as well. originally made by PopcornPr1nce who fled social media because they hated how the majority fandom treated Underswap (Blueberry and Carrot were popular names for the fanon swap papyrus and sans). Swap sans is constantly infantilized by the community which sucks and i hate it so i draw my own very super cool version of him whom i kin because i am also very super cool.

Outertale: mainly an aesthetic au pretty sure there's no comic of it. basically, instead of underground they in space. outer sans dies in underverse after like minutes of screentime lmao

Epictale: a comic made by Yugogeer. the og comic was retconned and the creator loathes the original version and made a reboot that's much better. Sans actually dies very early in it because Yugo hates how Sans is almost always focused on in aus. also the creator hates how meme-y their sans has become (like him saying bruh every single sentence, using a rubber chicken as a weapon, cookies, etc.) he's friends with Cross but not in canon. He has a purple magic eye that makes him immortal and i think only epic gaster could remove it which is how sans was able to be killed when he fought gaster.

Temmietale: it's undertale but everyone is temmie, don't question it

Trainertale: it's undertale but it's Pokemon, don't question it

Dancetale: it's undertale but you dance instead of fight, don't

Mobtale/Mafiatale: im unsure if mobtale and mafiatale are separate or not but they are very similar. basically undertale but mafia it's self explanatory

Undertale: no clue which au is this one, nope not at all/j

Bittytale or whatever idk: so take sans, make him small. boom. never understood this au

THAT BASTARD INK: HOOO BOY SAVED THE WORST FOR LAST. FUCK THIS GUY/j. THIS DUDE. IS THE REASON IM STILL INTO UNDERTALE AUS. I LOVE EM SO MUCH. also technically not a sans. He comes from an unfinished au and ripped his own soul to escape said au and became an outcode. for so long he was just a soulless husk until someone drew him and he got splashed with paint which let him feel. soon he learned to keep the paint in vials so that he can be able to feel 24/7. And then he learned how to create things with a paintbrush and the paint and spent time alone drawing up his own world until a portal appeared and took him to the multiverse. now he encourages artists to keep creating aus. he's the protector of aus in the sense that he keeps other outcodes from disrupting the script of the au, so if it's pacifist and an outcode tries to kill people he'd stop them, if it's genocide and an outcode tried to help them he'd stop them. no matter what he wants the au to stay on script. fun fact the creator of ink and the creator of error never had them interact with each other in canon, that was all the fandom's doing. Contrary to popular belief he's not really considered "good" his alignment is officially "Chaotic neutral". I personally interpret him a lot more chaotic than in canon because it's fun but he's a pretty chill guy actually. he can just be a bit of an ass sometimes. According to the creator of Ink (who is Comyet) his interpretation in Underverse is not canon compliant. one of the biggest canon things that underverse contradicts is Ink deliberately not taking his vials. if he were to do that in canon he'd become a husk again which is the equivalent of him "dying". he was described as a walking corpse by Comyet, without the vials he can't function anymore. Like Error he's pretty easy to beat if you know his weaknesses. also he has fears of empty spaces and being alone

off topic kinda but i very much love how Error and Ink are opposites yet parallel even though they were completely written without the other in mind. Error believes getting rid of aus is getting rid of anomalies. Ink believes people interfering with aus are anomalies. Error loves emptiness, Ink hates emptiness. list goes on it's funky fresh.

also uhhh sanses missing from that drawing that i can name from the top of my head

Seraphim sans, Insans, Dusttrust, He who shall not be named because he's from an 18+ au, Swapswap (yes. that exists), Storyshift, Inverted Fate (very good au i suggest checking it out), Negatale, Oceantale, Template, Pale, Mafiafell, Farmtale

my phone is at 9% y'all are spared from me going on

[codylabs]

Void Nomads

The Void Temples

The Void Temples are a collection of wandering space stations constructed in the most remote areas of the solar system, by early settlers who hoped to peacefully pursue science and enlightenment away from the concerns of society. This extreme isolation, desire for spiritual truth, and the immersion in the far distances of empty space, have cultivated a strong voidbending nature in the station’s inhabitants; a control over the fundamental threads of reality, of distance, gravity, and the shapes of spacetime.

Voidbenders live extremely minimalist and immaterial lives; they feel very little belonging to specific places and possessions, and instead place value in relationships and philosophies and fun times. This minimalism, combined with the difficulty of acquiring building materials in remote locations, means that most of the Void Temples are small, lightweight constructions. They contain air using multiple layers of coated nylon bags, and are held together using aluminum trusswork and woven nylong cables. Electricity requirements for such stations are minimal, and can come from solar panels, even when traveling to the outer system. Their stations most often lack thrusters, and instead rely on Alcubierre thrust from their resident voidbenders to maintain orbit and avoid debris. They largely lack spacecraft as well, and instead travel around the system using the curious natural abilities of Warp Bison. Warp Bison are the first and only naturally voidbending creature, native to an asteroid cluster in the outer system.

One unique Void Nomad invention is the ‘Gravity Skate’, which is created by bending spacetime into a tight loop, then casting a plate of hard material like porcelain or glass into the warped space. This effectively ‘locks’ the knotted spacetime, allowing the plate to resist gravitational change, and so to glide and change positions like an airplane without air or use of thrust. They are used to make gliders, hover platforms, and large-scale redirectors.

Voidbenders have never had a standing military, and rely on their isolation, wisdom, and goodwill to maintain peace with their neighbors throughout the system. It was this peaceful nature that allowed Fire Lord Sozin to nearly completely eradicate them near the start of the hundred-years-war, by a simultaneous attack on all 4 stations.

[Changing the element of ‘air’ to ‘void’ was the only big change I had to make to the magic system. In the show, air is the element of freedom, fun, and abandon, and the whole nature of the air nomads rely on it existing everywhere all the time. In space, air is more of a precious commodity, so it couldn’t have any of the same uses or meanings. ‘Void’ does have the same meanings, so that’s what has to be used. Voidbenders can still work perfectly fine in atmosphere, since gases are mostly empty space. If you read my other posts, I also reinterpreted ‘fire’ to mean something similar to ‘energy’, and ‘water’ can now include hydrogen and oxygen as well. So the bending system is now something more like Fluid Solid Energy Emptiness, which accounts for much more of the natural world than just Water Earth Fire Air, which I found very satisfying.]

Upper Void Temple

[Gravity: 0.5G internal, Pressure: 1.0ATM internal, Distance: 0.8-16AU, Replaces Southern Air Temple]

The Upper Temple was unique in that it followed a figure-8 orbit around the sun and black hole, an unconventional path that changed constantly, and which took it within rendezvous distance of most other inhabited worlds. To maintain the health and strength of inhabitants and visitors, some of this temple’s modules rotated to provide artificial gravity, although its residents largely preferred to spend time in 0-g, working and playing either outside the station, or within the confines of the larger farming bags. The Upper temble hosted a large population of warp bison and flying lemurs, as well as a sealed temple to the Avatar. Near the start of the hundred years war, a Fire Nation attack depressurized all of the temple’s living areas using shrapnel mines, and the surviving nomads were picked off by machine gun fire and boarding parties. Nobody lives there anymore.

Eastern Void Temple

[Gravity: 0.5G internal, Pressure: 1.0ATM internal, Distance: 6AU, Replaces Northern Air Temple]

Structurally and culturally similar to the Lower and Western Void Temples. The Eastern Temple was less nomadic, and built in a high polar orbit around the system’s largest gas giant. Near the start of the hundred years war, it was destroyed by the Fire Nation in the same way as the others. Some time later, refugees from the Earth nation located and boarded the station, and managed to fix and repair most of its damage. As they explored the ruins, they discovered remains of the Void Nomad technology and culture, and began to integrate elements of it into their own. For instance, the gravity skates were reverse-engineered and recreated, and used to make non-powered gliders in the same way that the Void Nomads had. And the refugees’ head engineer discovered a way to power the skates by casting them inside piezoelectric crystals instead of glass, and so build a prototype for the first working gravity drive. This technology could change the world and the war, since it could allow extremely heavy ships to move at great speeds or hover within gravity wells.

Lower Void Temple

[Gravity: 2.5G, Pressure: 1.0ATM internal, Distance: 2AU, Replaces Western Air Temple]

Unlike the other temples, this one was built within the atmosphere of a lesser gas giant. It was kept hanging by vast helium balloons, and stabilized against storms by solar-powered rotors. Near the start of the hundred years war, a Fire Nation attack killed many of the residents and punctured several of the balloons, causing the temple to drift deeper into the atmosphere where the sun didn’t reach. The lack of solar power and plant growth caused the remaining nomads to perish slowly of starvation, and those that tried to escape were picked off by a Fire Navy blockade before they could break atmosphere. The station is now so deep in the atmosphere that only gravity-manipulating vehicles would be able to safely access it. Nobody lives there anymore.

Western Void Temple

[Gravity: 0.5G internal, Pressure: 1.0ATM internal, Distance: 4.6AU, Replaces Eastern Air Temple]

Structurally similar to the Upper and Eastern temples. It orbited within the L5 Lagrange point of a gas giant, near the asteroid field that served as the homeworld for void bison. As such, it had large stables and training accommodations for the animals, and the other Void Nomads came to the Western temple at a young age to choose their steeds. The availability of building material among the asteroids meant that this temple could be larger and more sturdy than others, and it was the only one which was completely non-nomadic. The stationary nature meant that lost Warp Bison could easily navigate back to it in case of emergency, and they were often trained to do so. Near the start of the hundred years war, a Fire Nation attack vented the entirety of the temple, leaving no survivors. Nobody lives there anymore. [Pictured here before the war.]

[vampiremeerkat]

What do you usually do when you decide on writing a new story? Do you first write a list of the events happening in it, or do you just start writing the story?

Music inspires me and I think of random stories with characters I already know to help me fall asleep at night. The latter spawned the Until See You Again series. I’m not the type of person to sit down with pen and paper and use valuable daytime staring into space. Concerning music; with every song I hear I ask myself what it could be used for. If I can imagine a music video or fake TV intro for it, then the song is gud. I’ll bother with an actual story depending on the characters I see starring in these. I can try to describe a thought process I had recently.In the bus, I was listening to the “Atomic“ cover by Party Animals for the one millionth time, and I guess it only then hit me how fun it would be as an intro song. Based on the melody and tone, this “show“ had to be grand and playful, so that was my starting point. At first I imagined a person transforming into something, Sailor Moon-style, but that’s not a story. The lyrics also had to be considered, but there weren’t many lines to work with. The men shout “Atomic!“ and the lady who replaces Blondie.. the same dribble about giving her a good night. And the one compliment to her man that his “hair is beautiful”. So alright, this main character needed nice hair and have it be a point of focus. Giving yourself such a demand is silly, but it worked out in the end.Anyway, because the name of the song is a specific word that gets repeated, it became a restriction; and “Atomic” had to be the title of the show. There're only two genres out there that could make a title like this work, namely science-fiction and superhero content. In short, I chose to make the main character a superhero, calling himself “Atomic“. I didn’t think it was the best name out there, though. It’s an adjective and hardly relevant to the powers I ended up giving him, but I guess animes would get away with it, so why not me. In order to excuse it further, I decided to do a misheard lyrics thing and make this character’s real name sound similar to it. A self-proclaimed hero would be this lazy. “Anton” was the first name I could think of, and with that I confirmed the character’s gender and roots. Back home I looked up Asian surnames that sounded like “mik“, since I already pondered whether the art style for this should be manga and the character partially Japanese. Because of the bad superhero name and earlier Sailor Moon thought and all that. Ended up going for an original art style.Anton is a German name, so I looked up what the largest population of Asians in Germany is, which are the Vietnamese. Not many Vietnamese last names have been shared on the internet, but the combination “Anton Mạch” sounded pretty close according to the Vietnamese Google Translate robot. Now this superhero needed a backstory. I already imagined a spaceship floating about in the intro, so he was going to be an astronaut. Or rather, a government test subject who spent his entire life alone in outer space, only for him to get killed by the first interesting thing he comes across in 80 years.You know how intensive space exploration is difficult for humans, because we don’t live long enough to reach new places, and I often wondered if we’d ever go as far as sending a colony of some sort, that would ensure new life is born and trained to control the spaceship and bring everyone further into this never-ending environment. It'd be a horrible reality that'd force these humans to live a restricted existence, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it became a reality one day. I used this idea for Anton, who’s a lonesome orphan in a spaceship built by his dead parents, equipped to raise and teach a child. After the many years of nothing, he finds a light that destroys his ship and causes his death, then resurrects him again and basically gives him a second chance of life. This is more or less where the funny comes in, because I’m a sicko that likes tragedy and humor. And so does everyone else, otherwise Sans from Undertale would’ve never become this popular.Now that the character has a name and a backstory, thanks to this one boppin’ song, I had to think of the general plot and give description of Anton as a hero. You have to bring something new to the table here, otherwise what’s the point. It’s pretty hard to think of original powers and story arcs, since the superhero genre is enormous and the most idiotic characters that shouldn’t exist have their own comic book. I settled for a simple black bodysuit with white sleeves and high collar as his costume. The only reason we accept Spiderman’s clown suit is because we’re used to it, not because it looks cool. The hair thing from the song also had to be included, of course. The light’s explosion infused Anton’s once grey hair with some kind of mirror particles that reach so far, it shows the image of space in it. It was the easiest way for me to make his hair “beautiful“. Settling with this look meant his superpowers had to be related to space as well, but fine, I needed a theme. The environment of outer space is more or less his set of powers, like spawning comets, black holes, erasing oxygen, inflicting freezing cold, all that is highly unsuitable to use against normal human beings. Having that said, the story wrote itself and is about Anton’s Atomic character making a name for himself and people pretending to be content and obedient in his presence, as to refrain him from playing a hero.In short, I don’t write anything down. I think of stories at the most useless moments of the day, and if I still remember what I came up with by the time I place myself in front of a computer, I’ll make a drawing or write a Wiki page about it.If I don’t remember, then arguably my idea wasn’t good enough to remember.

[creativeashproductions]

Morphing Love // Noah Centineo AU

Summary: After moving from Los Angeles to Angel Grove you didn’t expect to go from a normal kid to saving the world with five people at your new school. Add on the issues from the move that caused your long term relationship problems you aren't’ sure how you’ll survive the fight.

Characters: Noah Centineo x Power Ranger!Reader, Jason Scott, Kimberly Hart, Billy Cranston, Zach Taylor, Trini Kwan, and Lana Condor (movie role mentioned briefly)

Words: 2.4k

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or the plot in the movie. I do however own my plot line along with the Reader. Do not post our work on other sites without our explicit consent.

Warnings: Swearing, fighting, angst (of course), and fluff.

A/N: I wasn’t going to write this but it’s been plaguing my dreams literally so I decided to write it. I apologize for not posing I’m just dealing with emotional shit I’d rather not have to. Please request! PLEASE!

Master list

Prompt List

ASK US A QUESTION LIST

There were things you had done that you weren't proud of in the past that had for sure brought you to who you were now. You had moved to Angel Grove when your father's construction company was hired by a business wanting to build a new store and a warehouse. It was by a large company that could help bring more customers to the family business even if the business was the top one in California; even been hired to work outside of California as well.

"I have the plans right in front of me. Okay they want the manager's office larger?" Your Dad asked his partners at the dining room table.

"I'm going for a run." You spoke while he waved you off. You sighed as you nestled your phone into your pocket before you took off from your house. The house sat in the outskirts of town with a large piece of land behind it.

You had welcomed the move to a town sitting in the middle of nowhere almost, the only thing that had Angel Grove there was the quarry. The same one you would run in the woods by each afternoon and evening to get away from the business talk your Dad had over Skype with his business partners, your uncles. That was how you got to this part of your life.

It was on that Saturday you had been running when you heard the explosion that had sent you running to see what was wrong. Standing there in shock at the strange material wall was a group of kids from your class at Angel Grove High School. The moment that bent over to pick things up you were right there picking an near iridescent white chunk of glass that had black splotches in it.

Kimberly was holding a pink one, Billy holding blue along with the yellow one in Trini's fingers while Jason leaned down staring at the red. It seemed the one most excited was Zach hanging on tight to a black one.

Life exploded after that with running from Quarry Security to literally being hit by a train and waking up perfectly fine. It got hectic after that. The night you all confronted Rita Repulsa at the marina you watched one of you friends and teammates die. Billy died right there in front of you in such a devastating way you thought it was over. Especially when you were informed early you were moving back to Los Angeles.

Now you were watching Billy laying there dead on the edge of the spaceship while Alpha spoke shocked to Zordon, the former Red Ranger in the spaceship wall. Seeing Billy die made you sit back and re-examine your life, when you came to Angel Grove you were in a serious relationship that steadily broke down after becoming a Power Ranger.

"We should give the coins to Alpha." You mumbled sitting next to Billy, "Why him? He was the most selfless one?"

"You can't-"

"We're kids! Zordon! Our brains aren't even fully developed!" You shouted, "I'm leaving in a few days! If we were picked by the coins then why did they pick me when I'll leaving?"

"What?" Jason spoke staring at you.

"I'm done." You shook your head climbing to your feet, "Billy's dead because we were reckless and stupid."

You were just reaching the exit of the ship when the gasp brought you to a stop. You turned to see Billy breathing heavily leaning up while Alpha began to speak to Zordon. You were completely shocked at the revival of Billy but it didn't make you feel any better. Without another look you were jumping up into the water and swimming to the edge to climb up the cliff edge. You knew the others followed.

"See you tomorrow." You spoke at the edge of cliff that led down into the water. The rest of the group stood there soaked and nodding.

"Yeah." Jason spoke clearing his throat, "Four o'clock tomorrow."

With that you started jogging back to your house with a goal of contacting Noah to talk, the boy that was quickly picking up fame from the movies he had done. You had been together for two years before it broke off mutually a while back. from the lack of communication. You were busy training and worried he would get hurt in this fight against Rita even if he would never believe this. He thought this only happened in the film industry but you lived the truth.

"Hey Sweetheart." Mom spoke kissing your cheek as she wrestled with a jar. You grabbed it from her and swiftly twisted your wrist to open it, "Oh thank you."

"Mhm." You nodded heading up to your room, "I"'m calling Noah."

"Oh." She blinked as she watched you continue up the stairs to your room.

You nestled into the comfy chair at your desk in the your room clicking the icon of Noah's contact. You watched it ring and ring before he answered with a shocked expression on a familiar background of a trailer.

"Hey." You awkwardly waved receiving a similar one from him.

"Hey, what happened?" He asked leaning in to look at your face closer, "Did someone punch you?"

Your eyes widened at you looked into the little window showing you in the corner of your computer, easily seen was a bruise covering your cheekbone to just under your eye. How your mother didn't notice was beyond you.

"Did someone hurt you?"

"No!" You quickly shook your head in response, "I honestly think I may have bruised from the basketball in my gym."

"Wow someone is str-" Noah was cut off by someone in the background yelling his name, "Hey I have to go, I have an onset interview."

"Yeah. It was nice talking to you." You spoke as the screen went black. The talk had brought back the reasons behind why you couldn't be with him.

You went back to ignoring messages or calls from Noah in an effort to forget about him and focus on not dying. It seemed to work up until Goldar literally threw you onto an abandoned building that collapsed onto your Velociraptor Zord. The tons of building immobilized your body and it hurt even in the protective morphing armour and the Zord.

"You good?" Jason asked as he tugged you out of the rubble.

"Yeah." You choked standing up in pain as you quite literally stumbled into the fight in front of the crater where the Zeo Crystal was laying.

"I can't hold it!" Kim exclaimed just as you all tipped over into the large fire filled crater. You thought it was over until you were yanked to Jason's Zord and within a blink of an eye your Velociraptor was now morphed into the largest Zord with the other ones.

"I'm the tail?" You gasped indignant, "Why the hell am I the tail?!"

"Focus! You're the balance we needed and you watched our back literally." Jason spoke staring directly at Rita, "Let's do this."

Rita was gone literally thrown into outer-space while you all stared in shock at the destruction of the town you had called home. Barely a building was left standing while you worked to conceal the Zeo Crystal once more from anyone's shocked prying eyes. It was a tough job while people were walking around in a daze.

"Where's Y/N?"

The frantic calls of your parents shook you to the core but the one voice was hysterical along with them. You looked over your shoulder to see your family, with Jason's Dad, scanning the area for you two. However just as scared was Noah gulping in fear but he stood still when he noticed the Power Rangers working to fill a massive hole.

"Is that?"

"Yes it's Noah Centineo." You sighed turning your back to him, "We dated for two years. It ended a few days after we found the coins."

"He's really good in To All The Boys I've Loved Before." Kim spoke staring at the black visor on your amour that was a stark contrast to the white on the rest of it.

"I know. Look it's too dangerous for him to be with me."

"I don't think anyone will notice who the Power Rangers are." Trini explained stepping back as the boys each pushed the last bit into the hole.

"But-"

"We needed to do as much as we can before we leave. We may have beat Rita but we need to clean up the mess we helped make."

Each Ranger went to a part of town to clean up until you were walking back to your Zord as your family collapsed onto their knees. Noah held a phone in his hand bringing you to a standstill when his voice came through.

"I know you're ignoring me but I saw on the news what happening. I'm on my way but you need to call me back. I need to know your safe. I love you okay."

"No! NO! She can't-" Your Mom's sob cut herself off as she fell into your Dad's arms. Both equally devastated in thinking your were dead and while you wanted to lose your armour you couldn't in the middle of here.

"We have to get going." Jason spoke coming to stand next to you. You had taken a step in their direction without realizing, "Let's get back to Zordon."

"Yeah." You mumbled keeping a wide berth around the grieving three people that meant the greatest  to you.

You sluggishly walked over to your Zord trying to ignore the inconsolable cries of your parents. While the others were already in theirs you couldn't take leaving your family in absolute distress so when they started to move you had already raced by to take the Zord back. However you didn't wait for the others before you were running back at full speed.

You stepped out of a dark shadow without your armour taking a deep breathe to open your house door. You barely stepped into the entrance when you heard a gasp from the swinging bench on your porch.

“Y/N?" Noah breathed yanking your sore form into his arms, "Where were you?"

"A long story." You spoke wincing. You were pretty sure you had fractured or bruised ribs , "I found a safe place. Lost my phone." You cleared your throat staring at a peeling piece of white paint.

"Good. Can you tell me the truth now?" Noah questioned turning to you, "I looked at my phone for a moment during a break and I see that Angel Grove was being attacked. Then I see a group of superheroes, what the fuck by the way, saving the town and no one knows where you are?"

"Jason's going to kill me." You muttered.

"Who's Jason?"

"Not important." You waved it off, "Okay so a little over a week ago I was running in the Quarry at night. I hear this explosion, apparently Billy decided to use explosives, so I run other. Weirdest shit for a wall I've ever seen. In the glass is weird colours."

Noah blinked in disbelief.

"Six of us are staring before one of us starts breaking the glass so we each pick up a small chunk that holds these weird coins? Problem is that we were all trespassing and security along with police show up. Long story short we run off, manage to jump into a speeding minivan and when we think we're safe boom! We get hit by a train." You spoke using your hands while pulling the Power Coin out of your pocket.

"Are you fucking with me?" Noah exclaimed standing up, "I thought you were dead and you make a joke about?"

"It's not a joke." You shook your head climbing to your feet, "Come with me."

You yank him after you around the side of the house to where your bedroom window on the second floor was. With barely a glance at Noah you jump with such a height you put Twilight to shame into your bedroom.

"See! Come on!"

Noah shakes his head with a mutter of losing the front door before he opens your bedroom door to step inside. Anyone else would have made an excuse to your parents and fled the scene with an anonymous tip to a mental health specialist. However Noah was different in that aspect.

"I'm not sure how that happened."

"Okay." You breathed in slowly reaching deep inside you while holding the iridescent Power Coin in your head. You didn't feel it but when Noah released a sharp breath of air you knew that you had morphed easily without the morphing grid in the cave.

"What the fuck."

You opened your eyes to see Noah was stark white in the face before he collapsed heavily to the ground. You winced leaning down to check him over.

"Noah." You spoke shaking his shoulder. You expected an outburst but now a fainting spell from him, "Noah."

"Mhm, what happened?" Noah asked leaning up to press a hand to his head keeping his eyes closed.

"You pulled a Lara Jean. You fainted."

"I think the adrenaline made me hallucinate."

"You didn't. Open your eyes." You whispered.

His beautiful brown eyes slowly opened to widen at the sight of the white armour and black face plate. You de-morphed yourself to hold him while he mentally freaked out.

"This shouldn't be real life."

"I shouldn't be alive after that train." You spoke, "I don't know why this happened to me and I hope it doesn't change your view of me."

"It may make things a little more difficult I'm not going to lie but we can do this. Now I know why you didn't answer my texts now." Noah spoke brushing a strand of your hair behind your ear, "So that nasty bruise was because?"

"We couldn't morph originally so we were training without it. I had so many bruises and broken bones that healed but wow. The difference between armour and no armour fighting is astounding." You shook you head in disbelief.

"This is crazy. Do your parents now?"

"Hell no. I wasn't supposed to tell you but you saw through my lies."

"Do you have to stay in Angel Grove forever now?"

"For the rest of senior year yes but I'm still keeping my plan of going to college in LA."

"Are you crazy enough to move in with me then?" Noah asked brushing your cheek with his finger.

"Are you crazy enough to live with a Power Ranger?"

"I guess we can be crazy together." Noah grinned taking your chin in his thumb and index finger you pulled you close to kiss you.

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[imjustthemechanic]

Our Own Demons

Part 1/? - A Bolt from the Blue Part 2/? - A Different World Part 3/? - Stark At Home Part 4/? - Pot Roast Night Part 5/? - Space-Pie Continuum Part 6/? - Energy Signature

What if Tony Stark really were the villain of the Marvel universe?  How would that work?  Tony himself is about to find out, as he battles his inner demons (and some outer ones, too) across a multiverse of infinite possibilities.

Beth looked from one of them to the other as if wondering if maybe she was the one going crazy, then took a deep breath.  “Well,” she said.  “I guess I owe you an apology, Mister…” she gave Tony a watery smile.

“Stark,” said Tony.  “I’m also Mr. Stark.”

Beth cocked her head.  “I thought you were Italian on your mother’s side,” she said to the other.

“I am,” Tony’s counterpart told her.  “He just lives there.”

“Very pretty country,” said Tony.  “Lots of art.  And…” he tried to remember what he’d seen the last time he’d been to Italy.  That had been mere months ago, but he remembered very little besides skinny-dipping in the warm Adriatic with Pepper.  Though… they had visited Pompeii.  “Volcanoes. You know, volcanic soil is very fertile. Very good for grapes.”

“I, uh… right,” said Beth.  “Well, it was nice meeting you, um…”

“Arno,” the other blurted out.  “This is cousin Arno.”  He slapped Tony on the back, and then tried to get the conversation back where Tony had been taking it.  “Look, can we come in?  JANIS has some kind of error and I need to reset my key card.”

Beth had been on the verge of softening.  Now she stiffened right back up.  “By an ‘error’, you mean it’s not letting you into a place you want to go,” she observed.  She wasn’t angry anymore – instead, this was a retread of familiar territory.  Tony got the idea that she’d helped his double get into several places the man wasn’t supposed to be, and that every time it happened she’d sworn that would be the last.  Sure enough: “I told you I couldn’t do that again.  It’s not worth my job, Tony.”

“I’ll take the blame for it, I promise,” the other said.

“Tony!”

“Hey.”  Tony himself butted in.  “You know what?  All he needs from you is plausible deniability, right?”  He looked at his double for confirmation.  “So you come over here and talk to me, and then later you can say that you had your eye on a guy who looked like Tony Stark the whole time, and you have no idea what happened.”  He gave her his most charming smile.

Beth sighed, but gave in.  She stepped aside so Tony’s double could enter the office, and stood with her back to the door.

“So,” she said.  “You… grow grapes?  On a volcano in Italy?”

“No, no,” Tony said.  “I just like wine.  I’m… I’m an art dealer.  Modern art.”

“That must be interesting.”

“It has its moments of high drama,” Tony agreed. “Yesterday was definitely not the first time somebody hit me when I told them who I was.”

Tony was halfway through a completely made-up story about his revenge on a man who’d sold him a fake Degas when his counterpart returned with the card key in hand.  “I’ve got it,” he announced.  “Let’s go.”

“Has he told you this story, Tony?” asked Beth.  “The one about the horse and the guy with the fake mustache?”

“Fifty times,” the other replied, without missing a beat.  “By the way… we’re gonna be playing a practical joke on Miss Potts later, so maybe don’t tell anybody you saw us, okay?”

Beth gave him a cynical look.  “Right,” she said.  “I can’t wait to hear about it.”

As they tramped down the concrete stairwell back to the basement, the other observed, “that actually didn’t go too badly.”

“Oh, didn’t it?” asked Tony.  “You’re not the one who’s supposed to answer to Arno.  Why Arno?”

“Like the river,” said the other with a shrug. “It’s the first Italian name I thought of.”

“We told her I wasn’t Italian,” Tony reminded him. “If I’m your cousin on Dad’s side I’m probably from Vienna.”

“There’s German guys named Arno.  It’s European,” the other said.  “And I doubt you’ll ever see her again, so why does it matter?”

“You’ll see her again,” Tony said.  “What’ll she think when you can’t keep your story straight?”

“She’ll think I’m a jerk and a liar.  She already thinks that.”  He sighed.  “That was three strikes anyway.  I’m out.”

“Maybe,” said Tony, who did wonder what strikes one and two had been, but decided not to ask.  The answer would probably make him wish he hadn’t, anyway.  “But we just gave you an out for it.  You’re only at two and a half, so you might be able to salvage it if you’re smooth enough.”

The other looked at him suspiciously.  “Firs the thing about Miss Potts, and now this. Why are you so interested in my love life?”

“I’ve got a vested interest in Tony Stark getting laid.”

“It’s creepy,” said the other.  “Cut it out.”

When they entered the workshop, they found it in exactly the same condition as Tony remembered from yesterday: suit parts strewn on the floor, and even the pipe wrench in the same places as Tony had made the other put it down.  That meant nobody else had been in here, which was good.  The junk robot Tony had noticed yesterday was still there – it raised its claw with a happy-sounding whirring noise, and Tony’s double gave it a pat on the chassis.

Tony himself bent down to pick up the faceplate, and realized it was actually broken.  The suit had been physically torn apart as the space inside it had suddenly become bigger than its surface area could hold. Tony could build a lot of things, but a TARDIS wasn’t one of them.  He was careful not to touch the torn edges.  If their theory were correct, that was where the tesseract trace would be.

“Sorry about that,” he said, turning the faceplate over to look at the inside.  It was a pretty piece of kit, he thought.  His own suits were all about appearance as much as anything else, but they were designed mainly to look solid, immovable objects capable of unstoppable force.  This one had more of an elegance to it, so that the power it was capable of would come almost as a surprise.  Perfect for Pepper, he thought.

The other propped open a laptop.  “Okay,” he said.  “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”

Tony set the faceplate down on a workbench and came to look over his double’s shoulder.  “SHIELD let me look at some of their equipment after the battle,” he said.  “It still had the trace in it, so I should recognize the signature.”  He shivered, trying to push away the still-troubling memory of falling and falling with the blackness closing in… no. No time to think about that.

“Really?  Lucky,” said the other.  “I’d’ve given my right arm to see some of that.  I wonder what they did with it after.”

“No idea,” Tony said.  Agents had snatched all the stuff back again a few days later for ‘storage’ leaving Tony with only the barest beginnings of the data he’d hoped to have – data that could have helped make sure something like the Chi’Tauri invasion would never happen again.  If he ever got a second chance, he wasn’t going to sleep for as long as he had the thing.  “They had machines that could siphon out the energy and store it.  If we want to make this work without a tesseract of our own, we’re gonna need something similar.”

He remembered what the apparatus looked like, at least.  Tony reached for the nearest table, automatically trying to create a hologram… but nothing happened.

“Hey, what have you got for diagramming stuff?” he asked.

“Whiteboard.”  The other jabbed a thumb at the far wall.  There was a wheeled board there, covered with circuit diagrams and equations. IN the lower right corner was scrawled orange juice, printer cartridge, bagels, dish soap (IMPORTANT), and there were two shirts draped over the top of it, as if they’d been washed and hung there to dry.

“I have so much to teach you,” Tony remarked.  He left the grocery list as he wiped the rest away, and tossed the shirts onto a chair so he could begin to draw what he remembered of the energy storage equipment.

“Here’s something,” the other said.  “It says here that the energy reacts violently with living tissue.”

Tony did recall reading something about that, and at the time he’d wondered what sort of experiments they’d done to learn it. There hadn’t really been anybody he could ask.  “Tissue? Like what, organs?”

“It says that an agent cut himself on something and there was a ‘violent reaction’ to the blood.”

Tony shivered.  “You want to talk about creepy?  That’s good old-fashioned nightmare fuel,” he said.  He heard a clinking sound, and turned around to find his double rooting through a mini-fridge next to the sagging old sofa.  “Really?  You read that and you immediately decide to have a snack?  What are you hungry for?  Black pudding?”

“No.  Ah, this’ll do.”  The other stood up, holding a rather unfortunate-looking bottle of caramel frappuccino.  There was no cap on it – he sniffed it gingerly and made a face.  “Yeah, there’s living tissue in there,” he said, and before Tony could stop him, he’d tossed a broken suit finger onto the table and poured a drop onto the exposed circuitry.

The phrase ‘poured a drop’ was not quite accurate – the remains of the frappuccino were very organic indeed, and it would have been more accurate to say he ‘let a blob ooze’ onto the shard of armor.  The words ‘violent reaction’, however, worked very well indeed.  A crackle of blue energy flared up, incinerating the liquid and scorching the table.  Tony froze as the image of that horrible hole in the sky flashed before his eyes again, and his double staggered backwards, spilling the rest of the expired drink down the front of himself.

The only individual who reacted usefully was the robot.  It grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and rolled over to douse the workbench.  This ended whatever reaction was going on in the remains of the suit, and sent a shock wave across the room.  Papers and empty coffee cups scattered as if in a gale.  Tony was tossed back against the whiteboard, which bounced off the wall and fell down on top of him.  His double got a much softer landing on the couch, and the robot tipped over and lay on its side, spinning its wheels helplessly.

After a moment of ringing silence, Tony wiggled out from under the whiteboard and pushed it back upright again.

“Violent reaction,” he said.  “Yeah, okay.”  Good thing he’d avoided the edges of the faceplate.

His counterpart crawled off the couch and got the robot back on its wheels, inspecting it for damage.  “Good boy,” he murmured to it, stroking the parts as if it were an animal.  “I’m not mad, that wasn’t your fault… you were a good boy…”  Once satisfied that the machine was still whole, he straightened up and looked at what Tony had been drawing.  It was now slightly smeared where Tony’s body had collided with the board.

“So, there’s a way to collect and store that instead of… um… dispersing it?” he said hopefully.

“Yeah,” Tony agreed.  Clearly transporting somebody between universes required a lot more out of the tesseract than opening a wormhole did.  He looked at his half-finished sketch, and picked up the marker to start filling in the bits he’s accidentally erased.  “I’ll draw, you build.”  The other would have a much better idea what materials were available than Tony did.  He would just have to make sure his notes included what properties the parts ought to have.  “By the way. Just a question, does your robot have a name?”

“Not really,” the other said, gathering up the stuff that had been blown off the workbench.  “Not an official one.  I call him Smartypants.”

“That figures,” Tony said.  “Causes a lot of destruction, does he?”

The other glared at him.  “He does his best,” he said defensively.

The phone on the desk rang.

Tony and his double looked at each other.  What had just happened had probably been felt throughout the building, and even if nobody else had come to the right conclusion about the cause, Miss Potts certainly would have.  Neither of them moved to answer it.

The phone rang again, and again, and again, and finally the machine picked it up.

You’ve reached the Special Projects workshop at Potts Technologies, said JANIS’ voice. The SP Manager is not available at the moment but if you leave a message…

Tony breathed out.  “We don’t have much time before she comes down here, do we?”

“No,” said the other.  “Let’s get to work.”

[gffa]

I've had something sort of slowly brewing in my head and, I suppose, I need to get it out before reliable TLJ spoilers come along.  I don't actually expect to be right about this, but I gotta distract myself from the anxiety somehow! Way back when I read the Thrawn novel for the first time, there was an absolutely fascinating exchange between him and the Emperor about why Thrawn would join the Empire:

   "As a start, I offer information," Thrawn said. If he was offended, Eli couldn't hear it in his voice. "There are threats lurking in the Unknown Regions, threats that will someday find your Empire. I am familiar with many of them."    "I will learn of them soon enough on my own," the Emperor countered placidly. "Can you offer anything more?"    "Perhaps you will learn of them in time to defeat them," Thrawn said. "Perhaps you will not. What more do I offer? I offer my military skill. You could utilize that skill in making plans to seek out and eliminate these dangers."    "These threats you speak of," the Emperor said. "I presume they're not simply threats to my Empire?"    "No, Your Majesty," Thrawn said. "They are also threats to my people."    "And you seek to eliminate all such threats to your people?"    "I do."    The Emperor's yellowish eyes seemed to glitter. "And you wish the help of my Empire?"    "Your assistance would be welcome."

The implication that, ooh, hey, the new version of the Yuuzhan Vong are maybe out there was interesting but I sort of dismissed it as Zahn hinting at maybe recanonizing some other stuff that may-or-may-not actually happen.  But it stuck with me as a reasonable explanation for why Thrawn, a character of honor at least in his own book, would join the Empire.  Because he believed they were stronger than the New Republic and, when the time came for that threat from the Unknown Regions (which is where the Chiss Ascendancy is), the Empire would be an ally to the Chiss. Fast forward to me reading a fair amount of the stuff from the sequel trilogy and the slowly growing question of, “Why the fuck is Jakku in EVERYTHING?  I thought it was a backwater planet that meant nothing!”  First there was the Battle of Jakku, the last major battle of the Galactic Civil War--hence all those downed ships that Rey was scavenging.  Okay, fair enough.  Then there’s the Emperor’s Observatory, where something more is hiding on that planet. And it just kind of keeps going.  (Bear with me, this gets kind of long.  Also some very minor spoilers for the TLJ Visual Dictionary )

The Observatory on Jakku had a bunch of computers there, displaying a map of the Unknown Regions, along with the Sith artifacts and the path down into the core of the planet to help blow it up as part of Operation Cinder.  The map was being generated by information he got from Thrawn and by the probes he’d sent out there. Then there’s Star Wars: Battlefront II and Project Resurrection (which is likely to be a SWBF2 thing, I think? not part of whatever this bigger thing is, I suspect) and Operation Cinder and the planet of Pillio where another of Palpatine’s Observatories exist.  It’s also where Luke finds a special compass that will come up again later.

I haven’t read the Aftermath trilogy yet, but it delves more deeply into the Observatory on Jakku, how Palpatine was absolutely obsessed with something coming from the Unknown Regions (whether it was a person or a tremendous well of the dark side or the source of some great power/the Force or what) and we know, in a more generalized Star Wars canon, that the Unknown Regions are precisely that because they’re incredibly difficult to explore.  They have few hyperlanes established, there are a bunch of black holes and such out there that make travel dangerous, etc. With the leaked Visual Dictionary for TLJ, we know that the compass Luke found on Pillio (and was mentioned in Legends of Luke Skywalker) was “attuned to hyperspace vectors”.

The Unknown Regions are also where where the First Order set up base after the remnants of the fallen Empire fled there to reestablish themselves.  (As a side note:  I suspect Mortis may at least be touched on in all this, but that was out in Wild Space, not the Unknown Regions.) I find it hard to believe that this isn’t building towards something.  Are we getting a new version of the Yuuzhan Vong?  Is that what Snoke already is?  (Unlikely since he was at least in the GFFA long enough to witness the Rise of the Empire.)  Or is this going to be what we’re facing in IX, when some major new threat comes along? Or will this be the subject of the new trilogy?  (I doubt that.  It’s been said that this is a part of SW lore that hasn’t been explored before and “a great enemy threat from the Unknown Regions” has definitely been explored before.)  Was the compass just to find Ahch-To, which is also in the Unknown Regions? Some other bits to chew on--from the leaked Visual Dictionary, there are special attendants in Snoke’s throne room:

Some sort of alien with an enlarged brain that can “process multidimensional calculations”, which sounds at least similar to what a droid does when it’s calculating a hyperspace route. But what got me really curious is catching up on Star Wars: Rebels, where the Phoenix crew are saved by the Lothwolves and they are lead through what looks VERY MUCH LIKE a hyperspace tunnel. It glows blue and then the way it reflects in Ezra’s eyes is very much like what jumping to hyperspace looks like.  (This is after the Lothwolves have very specifically gotten Ezra’s attention and made a point of getting Kanan involved in this, including calling out his name, “Dume.”

Once they get through the tunnel, they realize they’re on the entire other hemisphere of Lothal, that there are paintings on the walls depicting some kind of story. And that they’re pretty sure the Empire is doing something way more sinister here than just a new TIE defender:

Another Observatory?  We know there are ones on Pillio and Jakku, it might make sense for there to be one on Lothal as well (especially since it’s towards the edge of the galaxy, even if it’s on the other side)?  Maybe just an experiment on an Outer Rim world that they’re already strip-mining for supplies? Kanan confirms that the Lothwolves are deeply connected to the Force in some way and the paintings probably depict Jedi, including one falling from the sky (similar to how they themselves traveled through the hyperspace tunnel?) and Ezra says that it’s really familiar to the other Jedi Temple on Lothal--which means the Jedi are definitely connected to this. A couple of other shots of paintings we see:

It’s hard to make much out, but I keep looking at that wolf and it keeps reminding me of a line of stars, like a mapped route being laid out, a bit like...

It kind of reminds me of:

I think, whatever’s coming, it has to do with hyperspace lane routes and the Unknown Regions, but what precisely, I’m not sure.  Whether something is out there that is coming along those routes aor they’ll need them for something or if we’re looking at lanes that can be traveled without a ship.  Palpatine certainly wants to fucking know, obviously! And it’s tied up in other stuff going on--like Operation Cinder is about burning down the Empire out of SHEER SPITE if it can’t support and protect its Empire, that Palpatine doesn’t want anyone but himself to have it. But something with hyperspace, the Jedi, and the Unknown Regions seems to be coming.

[simplysaiyanlicious]

My theory on DBS 109/110

Spoilers below the cut, obviously.

I’ve had all day to think about this, and I’ve calmed down from my initial hyped up state. Those two episodes, which were amazing, left me with a whole bunch of questions, and this is what I think happened and will happen based on what I saw.

I could be completely wrong, I could be partially wrong, I could be right. I don’t know. There could be others who came up with a similar theory. Again, I don’t know, I haven’t checked yet. This is just my theory and it’s fun to think about, that what happened in today’s episodes might set the scene for the next arc.

Okay so. That Spirit Bomb volley ball session between Goku and Jiren. That was a humongous power being bounced back and forth between two other humongous powers. It’s no wonder the Spirit Bomb collapsed in on itself.

When it did, I’m sure you all noticed that black thing in the center. That screamed ‘black hole‘ to me, like one you’d see in outer space. Goku clearly got sucked right into it and he sure as hell didn’t mean to.

Remember when Beerus said even he couldn’t sense Goku’s presence at all anymore?

Ask yourself this; we’ve done universes, we’ve done extraordinarely powerful gods of those universes, and Goku rose above them. Temporarily yes, but he did. So when this Tournament arc finishes, for the next arc, where are you supposed to find new threats and powerful villains to keep the story going?

Answer: another dimension. Literally.

That’s what I think happened. That black hole that was created when all that amazing power collapsed in on itself, created a temporary portal to a different dimension and Goku went right through it, which is why Beerus couldn’t sense him either.

I don’t know how Goku got out, that’s beyond the point. The thing is... I’m legit worried about Goku’s... welfare right now. You all saw it. You all heard it. Goku was eerily quiet and expressionless throughout the whole fight when he was in this Ultra Instinct mode, until the very end, shortly before he lost the power. When he yelled, there was another voice beneath his own. Something much darker and deeper and sinister sounding.

If this whole dimension theory is true and that really was a black hole, and Goku went somewhere no one has gone before... I don’t think he came back alone. And no one seems to have realized it yet, including Goku.

I don’t know what it would mean for the future. We’ve just done the whole evil Goku thing with Black and they’ve already done the whole possession thing too with Majin Vegeta. But who knows?

Maybe the voice meant nothing and it was just an added effect to spiff up his Ultra Instinct mode even further, but I doubt it. And I want it to mean something, even though I worry for what might happen in the future.

I have no doubt that Goku will continue to develop this Ultra Instinct mode and master it somehow, turn it into an actual transformation he can use. But there’s gonna be a catch, a big dangerous catch to mastering that kind of power and I think we just saw a hint of it.

That’s just my take on it though. We’ll see what happens, but I’m very excited for it! Haven’t been this excited since the Goku Black arc! HYPE!!

So what do you guys think happened? Do you have a different theory? If so, share! I’d love to hear it.

[houstonreggaefestival-blog]

H.R.F. Exclusive interview with Ted Bowne of Passafire

1. First things first, what can you tell us about the new album?

TB:The new album is finished!  We have completed the recording/mixing/mastering part.  Now we are finishing up the art work and copy stuff to get it ready for manufacture.  We recorded a lot of material in 10 days!  Out of those songs we chose 12 for the album.  The process was a lot more live and natural than past approaches as we set up "in the round" and tracked as much as we could live before going into overdub mode.  I think it turned out well because of this approach.

2. Are there any plans to drop a single in the near future?

TB: We have talked about a single.  It's all up to the label (Easy Star) now and how they want to roll out the release.  I think there will most likely be a single released with the pre-order package somehow.  

3. Every Passafire album has always had its own unique sound, how would you describe the overall sound of the new album?

TB: The new album is an updated culmination of our experiences in music both individually and as a group.  The overall theme is a message of hope for continual growth as artists and as people in general.  As always we touch upon both the highs and lows of the human experience in as relatable a way as we can to reach a broad spectrum of music lovers.  Musically,  we are exploring all of the avenues we've previously gone down while maintaining a good amount of reggae elements that keep it as true to the genre as it can be.  We have a huge love for reggae, but can't deny the power of all types of music and love to allow those things to be absorbed into our sound as well.

4. How did y’all come up with the name Passafire?

TB: In 1973, Bob Marley &a The Wailers released the iconic album "Catch a Fire" which was released by Island Records and quickly spread worldwide bringing reggae from Jamaica to the far reaches of the globe.  30 years later, myself and the other original members of Passafire decided that we had caught that fire and it was time to "pass it on" as they say in one of the songs on that record.  Playing music in a live setting is a cycle of energy being passed back and forth from band to crowd and back.  We feel that the meaning of the name reflects our desire to share that energy with everyone who hears our music.  

5. If you could collaborate with any current reggae artist who would it be?

TB: There are a few on my list personally.  We are all big fans of John Brown's Body and would love to have Elliot Martin sing on a track some day.  I am currently a big fan of Chronixx and would be SO stoked to collaborate with him in any way.  We got to meet him when we opened for him at a festival in Vienna, Austria this past summer.  He's a very nice guy and super talented live performer.

6. Y’all do some amazing covers during y'all live sets, whats your favorite song to cover and why?

TB: We covered "Give It Away" by RHCP on our fall tour 2 years ago which was a dream come true.  They have been one of my favorite bands since I was a kid.  That song was fun to learn and difficult to play and sing at the same time so it was a challenge that I embraced every night.  I think the best performance of it was in LA (appropriately).

7. What's your favorite memory you've made while touring with the band?

TB: Oh... so many it's hard to choose just one.  Any time I've had the chance to perform in front of thousands of people and many of them are singing along to our music is a moment that makes all the struggle worth it. Meeting people who have our logo or lyrics tattooed on their bodies is also very surreal.  

8. A lot of artist in the genre look up to y’all and what y’all do, what advice would you give an upcoming reggae artist based off your own experiences?

TB: Tour hard!  Just go for it and don't look back.  We were given a chance to do a national tour only after 4-5 years of relentless touring up and down the east coast.  Humble yourself and be prepared to face uncomfortable situations in the name of making a name for yourself as an artist.  Sacrifices are made every day.  Be open to uncertainty and make music that people can enjoy.  That's my advice.

9. A lot of y'alls music has been recorded at Sonic Ranch studios here in Texas including some of the new album, what brought y'all out to Texas to record and how has recording here influenced your music?

TB: We actually recorded the entire new record at Sonic Ranch.  It was our 5th time recording out there.  We have a great relationship with the ranch and love to go there to be creative.  It's the world's largest residential recording studio which means you can stay there at the ranch and record on your own schedule.  Creativity doesn't always hit at the same time every day.  We love the flexibility we are given out there and the ability to use a plethora of amazing gear. The hospitality is top notch and the food is authentic Mexican cuisine that will fuel your creative energies.  The staff has a strong grasp on the equipment and can make things sound exactly how you want them to quickly and efficiently.  

10. What is your opinion on the current state of Reggae music? Do you think the culture is negatively affected by the stereotypes associated with Reggae music?

TB: Every now and then I meet someone who says "reggae is too repetitive" or something like "all they sing about is weed."  These opinions are usually held by people who have only heard a few reggae songs and have decided to generalize the entire culture.  I have listened to reggae from all over the world.  It is a genre like Jazz, Blues, or Rock that has been adopted by different cultures everywhere and transcends race or religion.  I believe as we start to educate ourselves on the benefits of cannabis and open up the world to opportunities to explore it as a path to wellness and reason, we can expect to see less of a negative connotation associated with Reggae.  People are starting to recognize it as something that is not just background music for your island vacation and more of a way to spread the message of love and positivity in these troubled times we are facing today.  I have faith that the genre will grow more and more in the coming years.

11. Do you think that those stereotypes make it more difficult for bands trying to expand the genre to tour/find an audience?

TB: I think those "stereotypes" are actually what is drawing people to the genre in the first place.  People who are laid back and enjoy to be around other laid back people flock to reggae shows.  We see our fans meeting one another and traveling to see us in remote places far from their homes.  They came together because they like those things that are associated with Reggae and the feeling they get when they are gathered together to enjoy a show.  There will always be people who aren't into it... and so it's not for them.  To each his own.  Live and let live.

12. Did y'all experience any difficulties trying to get traction when y'all first started in the reggae scene?

TB: Starting out in Georgia?  Absolutely!  We quickly found that Florida was a much better market for our style of music and luckily it was close by.  Not to say that we don't do well in GA, but we had to branch out to the places where the scene is blossoming to gain traction.  Colorado, California, and Texas have been great places for our style of music and we try to frequent those spots as much as we can.  Now we are trying to gain traction in Europe and it is very similar to the early days here.

13. One of my favorite things about Passafire is that y'alls sound is always evolving, has that resulted in a more fluid fanbase for the band or would you say the majority of fans have become dedicated because of y'alls reluctance to settle on a specific part sound spectrum?

TB: I think we have a sound that allows for people from all kinds of backgrounds to gravitate to it.  The ones who don't like the "repetitive" nature of reggae are given relief when we break into a metal riff or funk breakdown here and there.  The fact the we change it up often adds dynamics to our show and albums.  Music, in my opinion, should reflect the many aspects of life.  Love, sadness, joy, thoughtfulness, philosophy, abstraction... these are all things that can be expressed through music.  We strive to continually explore all of these things.

14. Do you think the band will release a documentary/DVD of y'all playing an entire live show and maybe gives fans an inside look what life is like on tour with the band?

TB: We have so much footage from the 14 years we've been a band.  Someday I hope to do a more in depth style doc about the band that includes live footage, studio footage, interviews, and behind the scenes stuff.  I would love to tell our story thus far with film.

15. What's left on the bucket list for Passafire?

TB: Red Rocks, South America, Australia/NZ, Asia,  Africa, the world!  We have several ideas for alternative tour formats such as an all brewery tour where we can team up with small craft breweries nationwide.  Beside that, we're looking forward to continuing to build our relationships and fanbase over in Europe in the coming years.

16. How would you describe Passafire to our fans who are just now being introduced to the band?

TB: We bring a lot of energy to the stage.  Our albums are enjoyable and very diverse musically, but the live show is where we shine.  We thrive off of crowd interaction and overall good vibes.  Our music is reggae infused progressive/alternative rock but we jump around to many different points of the spectrum.

17. If you had to choose one Passafire song to be broadcasted into the depths of outer space  which one would you choose?

TB: Start from Scratch, of course!  ("Like black holes in space")

18. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Houston?

TB: "Houston, we have liftoff!"

19. If you were to choose a lineup for the Houston Reggae Festival who would you want to see on the bill?

TB: Chronixx, John Brown's Body, The Expanders, Jesse Royal, Raging Fiya, or Steel Pulse

20. For the final question I want to give our fans something to look forward to, when can we expect to see Passafire in Houston again?  

TB: Possibly spring, maybe summer.

[loudsociocollective-blog]

Reheat THIS in the microwave of evil

Ollo,

A few nights ago, I was settling down for the night and my boyfriend and I decided to watch a movie. I was absolutely shocked and appalled to learn that for more than 2 years of a dating I was unaware that he had never seen MegaMind.

 I hadn't been this shocked since I found out my roommate hadn't seen High School Musical 3, four years ago.

So instead of watching Brooklyn Nine Nine (like he wanted), I insisted we watch the cartoon children’s film. He obliged, probably because he saw how excited I became at the opportunity to watch the movie. I promise I'm 22 years old, not 5. 

For those of you who have not seen this brilliant Dreamworks creation: please drop everything and go watch it now. I mean, cmon. It stars Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, and Ben Stiller. Its light, funny, and entertaining. Just like many of DreamWorks creations, MegaMind includes subliminal adult humour that engages parents and makes watching cartoon movies enjoyable. Really, go watch it. Mostly because it's wonderful, but also because I am about to give an in depth summary of the movie and do not want to ruin your *MegaMind* experience. 

*Spoiler Alert*

The Plot

(https://goo.gl/images/fzbt5E) 

The movie starts with a planet in outer space being sucked into a large black hole. A couple, inhabitants of the doomed planet, put their little big headed blue baby in a pod with a fish companion and send the pod to another planet for safety. Another set of parents on a nearby planet had a similar idea, and sent their attractive human-like alien baby to safety as well. These babies became effectively known as Megamind & Metro Man. Both MegaMind and Metro Man had great powers, Megamind’s being great intellect, and Metro Man’s being strength and flight.

Although both babies landed on the same planet, Metro Man landed in a mansion, and MegaMind crashed into a prison. The two grew up together, went to the same school, lived into the same town (Metro City) and conversed with the same people. It quickly became apparent that Metro Man was favoured by the individuals of the city, and MegaMind was an outcast, a ‘black sheep’ as he called it. This was because Metro Man always did the right thing, and did things that the other individuals of the city liked. Even though MegaMind tried to win societies affection, he always engaged in behaviours that were not favoured by other individuals. So, MegaMind decided that the only thing he was truly good at was being bad, and decided to be the baddest villain the city had ever seen.

MegaMind and Metro Man develop a rivalry where MegaMind attempts to kill or injure Metro Man, various buildings and the citizens of MetroCity. MegaMind, being the bad guy, always loses. However, one day while the city was praising Metro Man, MegaMind successfully lures Metro Man into his trap and kills him.  MegaMind is ecstatic to finally win and have control over the city. 

Soon, MegaMind grows bored of his power, since there’s no one there fighting for the power back. He decides in order to regain purpose, he must ‘create’ a superhero to battle him. He accidentally creates a superhero who has no drive to be a hero at all, and turns evil. 

While this is happening, MegaMind is pretending to be a librarian and falls in love with a popular and beautiful reporter, Roxanne. She develops feelings for MegaMind, but promptly ends the relationship when she discovers who he really is. They also find out that Metro-Man faked his death because he was bored doing the same thing day in and day out. 

Plot twist: MegaMind, the bad guy, now has to be good in order to save the city, and himself, from the monster he has created. He wins, Metro City is saved, and MegaMind is the new hero. And of course, he gets the girl. 

The Sub-Plot: Deeper Meanings

(https://goo.gl/images/HqehpN) 

Since this movie came out in 2010, I have loved this film. But I have never stopped and thought about what the film was trying to tell me. As Gitlin stresses, we must attempt to ponder what each medium means. Or in this case, what MegaMind means. Then, and only then, can we understand its effects. 

Alright Gitlin, Im taking your advice and pondering what this movie could mean. Is it just another Shrek-like children’s comedy, or is it trying to tell us something far more important...? 

Gitlin looks at how television shows and film often represent the ideological structures of our modern society. In this way, TV and film media reinforce the ideology of the groups in power and dismiss/condemn radical thought, disobedience and conflict of the system. Gramsci notes that the owning class, or the bourgeoisie, has created an overarching hegemony which influences individual and societal thought. Hegemony can be described as the domination of ideology and common-sense attitudes towards society by the ruling class. 

As soon as I started thinking about what deeper meanings could be within MegaMind, I was overwhelmed with the amount of examples there were to prove the point. For simplicity, I will only mention a few prevalent and important examples the film has to offer: 

The first thing that was apparent to me in this film was the stark contrast between good and evil. Metro Man was the clear spokesperson for good, and MegaMind being a spokesperson for evil. The behaviours of each character then became further categorized as good or bad. For example, 

Killing people = bad. (MegaMind) 

Protecting society, the individuals in it, and those in power = good. (MetroMan) 

Not only is this movie reinforcing the good vs. bad stereotypes, but also sends a few messages to the ‘deviant’ individuals in society. First, It explains that there are no perks to being the bad guy. The people who are bad, or go against the ruling class/ideological framework of society always lose, are not accepted in society, and never ‘get the girl’.

Minion: I may not know much but I do know this the bad guy doesn't get the girl.

MegaMind: Well maybe I don't want to be the bad guy anymore!

- (MegaMind 2010)

BUT, a deviant individual can choose to change; they are encouraged to begin engaging in only good behaviours. Once this change happens, the newly good individual will be accepted into society. They may also then find love and companionship.

The fact that this is seen in a children's movie is particularly important, as children learn every single day the difference between right and wrong. Their young brains are sponges that adopt everything their surroundings tell them. This movie assists kids in differentiatating between good and evil. It also subliminally suggests what they should be doing in their own non-cartoon society. 

As Giltin notes, The superhero archetype has been around for a long time. Since 1933 this character has often been portrayed as patriotic, well behaved, dedicated, and successful. Also, Superheros often owe their lives to their citizens and feel compelled to help in any dire situation. 

The greatest honour you’ve given me is letting me serve you, the helpless people of Metro City. I often ask myself, “At the end of the day, who would I be without you people?”

- Metro Man (Mega Mind 2010)

Next, I want to take a closer look at the characters in this film. Metro Man is a white, stereotypical attractive and muscular baby that grew up to be an attractive, talented, muscular man. He grew up in a Mansion, with elite parents and a privileged childhood. Metro Man perfectly fits this superhero character type, and represents how if you are good, you will be well liked and successful. Also, Superheros often owe their lives to their citizens and feel compelled to help in any dire situation. 

Accompanying the superhero is always a super villain, or a protagonist that stirs up conflict in the plot. The villain is usually unattractive, mean, from a underprivileged background, and always loses. MegaMind is painted as a villain from the get go. He is blue, which would be fine, you know, since he is an alien. But its interesting that the good superhero is handsome, jacked and is human (Metro Man may have a surpirior appearance but nevertheless is similar to general society). MegaMind is raised in a prison where he learns good vs. bad from the evil prisoners inside (all of which are painted as evil and inherently bad as well).

Lastly, The imagery involved in the stereotypical representation of MegaMind’s character is of importance. He is often dressed in black (with dark blue patterns) with leather and studded accents. All of which are associated with risqué, and ‘deviant’ behaviours. Alternatively, Metro Man wears an all white costume. White is often symbolic of truth, justice and goodheartedness. This imagery is especially relevant at the end of the movie when MegaMind turns good, gets the girl, and the city’s approval. With this, comes a new outfit. Yep, you guessed it, a white cape. 

I find it funny how much us humans consume without reflection. Here I was watching this dorky cartoon film with my boyfriend not knowing all the little meanings I was unknowingly consuming. It honestly makes me critical of everything else I'm doing and thinking and feeling. How much of it is influenced by hegemony? all of it? is anything real?????? #conspiracy 

Im not sure how that makes me feel - skeptical I guess?

Nevertheless, its apparent that these types of ideological undertones are present in almost everything we experience in society. Even children’s movies!!!!!! Music, religion, novels, and film all perpetuate the preferred behaviours and beliefs of the ruling class. Structural functionalists would be all over this. 

i don't know, I could be onto something here… or I could be pulling meaning out of thin air. This is just my semi-Gramsci, semi-Gitlin (and maybe a little marxist) analysis of this cartoon movie. So take it with a grain of salt. I could be wrong but who's to say it either way.... 

 I mean the author is dead, right?

Christine 

[consciousowl]

Time Travel: Can We Really Travel Back in Time?

Have you ever felt like you had enough of our modern world, all the complexity, the frantic pace and the intractable global problems? Have you ever wanted to just drop out and go to another world, perhaps an idyllic society somewhere back in time?

For me, it would be visiting Paris in the 1870’s through 1890’s, an elegant, cosmopolitan environment with constant discovery, such as motion pictures, a renaissance of the arts, such as impressionism with men and women who were truly happy to be men and women. Imagine the opera, the ballet, and the erection of the Eiffel Tower, the great cathedrals and museums, the gourmet French cuisine. Who could ask for anything more?

But is it really possible? Can we ever become astronauts in time, not just in space?​

What Is Time?

We take time for granted all of our lives, not only on our wrists, but also in our smart phones and tablets. Most of us are quite content to be ruled by the clock. But is time really there? Or do the hour and minute hands just move round and round to no purpose?

If you ask the greatest philosophers and scientists to actually define and explain time, the best they will come up with is that time is our way of accounting for change.​

Everything seems to be in flux. We see the four seasons, and we greet the turn of the earth as morning and evening. As we grow older, our world expands and sometimes contracts. The world I was born into is not at all what I witness today.

Time is often thought of as the fourth dimension, after the three dimensions of space: height, width and depth. We never seem to have time without space, nor space without time. Yet, could time actually be the way we experience things, primarily in our minds?

What Is Relativity?

Albert Einstein forever changed the notion that time and space were absolute, that you might consider one without reference to the other. He invented what he called “thought experiments” to illustrate his concepts.

Einstein began with a visualization of actually riding a light beam, going at the constant velocity of 186 miles per second. He dared ask himself, if I held out a mirror in front of me, would I see my face? Or would I be going too fast for the light to ever reflect back upon me?​

Einstein kept getting more and more clever with these thought experiments until he realized that space is curved, and what causes gravity is the bending of space around larger objects. He saw things from a planetary perspective way before rockets and jets.

Today, you can’t account for time or space without reference to an observer. When you ask what time it is, are you asking London time, or Tokyo time? In Einstein’s universe, nothing is absolute. We all have to adjust our clocks. In addition, the faster you go, the slower you age.

Why Is Time Travel a Real Possibility for Us Today?

If we study film history, we see how we have been gradually led to accept time travel as a possibility, no matter how dim. We could start with H.G. Wells’ Time Machine, which was preoccupied with traveling into the future. As Wells was a pessimist, the picture of humanity he portrayed was dismal.

Somewhere in Time came out in in 1980, starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour, about a playwright in Chicago whose dream girl walks into his party as an old lady. Jane, as Elyse McKenna, tells Christopher, as Richard Collier, “You’re going to come back to me.” Days later, Richard sees Elyse’s portrait in the Grand Hotel, and falls in love with her. He finally embraces her, thanks to self-hypnosis.​

Back to the Future came out in 1985 as the definitive time machine feature: A plutonium-powered DeLorean that can travel into the past or future at just 88 miles per hour. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a resourceful young teenager, makes friends with a mad scientist, Doc Brown (Christopher Clay), who encourages him to take a joy ride. Marty ends up back in the same town 30 years earlier, only to have his adolescent mother fall in love with him.

While these delightful stories stretch our credulity, we find ourselves much more inclined to accept the DeLorean, powered, as it was, by Plutonium fuel, with constant references to Einstein.​

It just so happens that the greater an idea is developed, the more likely it is to actually manifest.

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One need only think of the delightful prophetic novels of Jules Verne, all but one of which came true, including a journey to the moon.

Humanity today collectively knows dozens of times more than the entire human race in all the ages before it, due to the explosion of information technology. We are intent to actually build a colony on Mars. Is time travel all that more difficult?​

How to Travel to the Future

If we can just get the booster rocket to go orders of magnitude faster than 25,000 miles per hour, we can contemplate a joy ride into outer space approaching the speed of light. We just need loop back to earth to see it 50 years later. If, like the Star Trek crew, we don’t like what we see then, we can always jettison ourselves back into outer space, in search of the perfect planet.

How to Travel to the Past

Worm holes can connect us, not only with different points in space, but with different times on the cosmic clock. Our present research suggests they may be only a fraction of a centimeter. However, some physicists think we can expand them like tubes and rocket through them. Black holes are a surer thing, as we are aware of any number of them. We just may figure out how not to be crushed by them.

What Difference Will Time Travel Make?

All of this may seem ridiculously impractical. Dr. Michio Kaku, a prominent physics professor, suggested in his provocative book, The Physics of the Impossible, that it might take us four or five hundred years to work this all out. What is important to realize is that the mathematics, itself, does not prohibit time moving in reverse. On the quantum level, we have actually observed what is called “time reversal symmetry,” where a particle temporarily moves back in time.

If we succeed in travelling through time, we will no longer be bound by time and space. We will transcend our finite perspective. We can get much more accurate accounts of history. We can remind ourselves of alternative life ways, even among primal tribes in the Amazon, that we have long since forgotten. We might even discover a way to save our planet from environmental stress.​

Just think about the fact that the light going out from the earth can theoretically travel infinitely in space. If you were 2,000 light years away today, you might be able to view with your ultimate telescope Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount, or Socrates defending himself in the Athenian court, or Buddha getting enlightened under the Bodhi tree. What would you give for that?

The Alternative: The Yoga of Time Travel

Whether we successfully construct an effective time machine in our lifetime that can teleport people to different eras, we have a much simpler way to re-experience time: Through, not only our own memory, but the memory of the Universe.

Hindu legend maintains that at the bottom of everything are the Akashic Records, where every thought, feeling and action is faithfully recorded in intricate detail. It is like one vast DVD, where you can find the right groove with your light beam and totally re-experience it. This is similar to neurologists stimulating our brain in a hospital, and our experiencing precise moments of our childhood in the most vivid way imaginable, multisensory.​

Dr. Erwin Laszlo, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, accepts the Akashic records as an accurate description of Infinite Intelligence. Laszlo is developing a contemporary physics around it. Einstein freely gave away the secret of his success, not as an oversized brain, but unbounded imagination.

Einstein credited imagination for every one of his breakthroughs, not his skills in calculus.​

Where to Look for the Source of Time and Space

Quantum physics and Eastern mysticism are driving us to the conclusion that all time and space is encompassed within our consciousness, that within our Ultimate Being, the galaxies spin. We are not constrained by our skin. Our awareness embraces the entire universe. This is what it means to be truly divine.

We can defeat the march of time by realizing that our True Self was never born and will never die. We are the Supreme Being giving unique expression through each one of us, witnessing His own creation through every pair of our eyes.

All the sacred scriptures keep hammering that nothing is impossible. God is a field of Infinite Possibility. Within that field, you can freely flutter like a glorious golden butterfly to any time and place you wish.

As Helen Keller put it, “Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing.”

Time Travel: Can We Really Travel Back in Time? appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.

[itsworn]

Car Craft Ask Anything: Reader Questions Answered

Jenny on the Block

Bart Jenson, via email: A friend showed me a small-block Chevy engine block with the number 327 cast into the outer wall. He says it came out of a 1961 Corvette and has plans to sell it online. I had no idea Chevy was marking blocks like this way back then. I’ve always heard it was a thing called the “suffix code” that told one block from another. Is this a new discovery for easy identification of blocks?

Steve Magnante: Bart, tell your friend he needs to learn more about what he has before listing it online or even telling others what he thinks it is. I went to my local engine shop (R.A.D. Auto Machine in Ludlow, Massachusetts) and asked proprietor Donnie Wood if he’d ever seen the numbers you describe. His reply: “Oh, I see those 327 blocks all the time. Got one on the boring machine right now.” Sure enough, there it was. A small-block bearing the 327 numbers about an inch high on the passenger side, getting finish-honed.

Donnie tells us, “It’d be great if it was all so easy and Chevy stuck displacement markings on the outside of the block back in 1955 and kept it up over the years. But the fact is, those ‘327’ blocks are actually 350ci units from the LT1/LT4 family of small-blocks.” Also referred to as Gen II engines, they were introduced in 1992 and were used through 1997 when the totally new Gen III LS series engine replaced it.

The Gen II featured several differences from the 1955–1996 Gen I block; the most significant changes were the elimination of the rear-mounted distributor and revised coolant flow that served the heads before the block. The water pump, intake manifold, and dampener/pulley system were all unique to the Gen II small-block, as was the front-mounted Opti-Spark distributor. This version of the small-block was unique enough to warrant the Gen II nomenclature and, yes, many feature the “327” block marking your friend is mistaking for a 1962–1969 block with that displacement.

Though even the basic LT1 installed in Cadillac Fleetwoods, Caprices, Buicks, and so on made a respectable 260 hp and proudly boasted dual exhaust outlets, memorable performance models motivated by a 275- to 300hp variant included the 1992–1996 (non ZR1) Corvette, 1993–1997 Z/28 and Trans Am, and 1994–1996 Impala SS. Only the Corvette-bound blocks got four-bolt main caps; the rest got two-bolt caps. There was also the higher-output LT4—with its OE Crane roller rocker arms, red powdercoated intake manifold, and four-bolt main caps—that saw optional use in the 1996 Corvette (6,359 of the 21,536 cars built got the LT4 for an extra $1,450) and a handful of SLP F-body offerings.

And, yes, there was even an economy version of the LT1 called the L99 in 1994–1996. It made 200 hp, displaced 4.3L (262 cubes), and looked the same as a 350-incher. Classic 4.3 installations were base, fullsize, rear-wheel drivers and taxis. Here we must stop to indicate GM put external metric displacement indicators on these blocks. But they read 5.7 or 4.3 and were located at the top of the block, adjacent to the transmission bellhousing (some blocks carried the 4.3/5.7 numbers on the outside wall, too). In a nutshell, if you don’t see a distributor (or its mounting hole) at the back of the engine block, it’s a Gen II—even if it says 327 on the outer wall.

About the 327, let’s remind your friend the 1961 Corvette he (mistakenly) thinks his block is from actually got the 283 small-block—in its final year under Corvette hoods. The 327 wouldn’t arrive in any Chevy until 1962, when it replaced the 283 in Corvettes. And let’s not forget that Chevrolet has applied the fabled LT1 designation several times. The first was on the potent, solid-lifter 350 of 1970–1972, the second on the very worthy 1992–1997 engines discussed here.

About suffix codes, you are correct that GM stamped alphanumeric identification codes into blocks. Located atop a machined pad that extends forward from the passenger-side deck, this is where hundreds of different codes were stamped in place to identify the engine’s original power rating, transmission, and assembly plant. However, even a light 0.010-inch deck cut (to restore the gasket surface during a rebuild) can eradicate the factory-applied stampings, so they are often missing. There are many sources for casting number and suffix code info, including Mark Allen’s MSA-1 booklets (available from Summit Racing) and online resources like Mortec.com. Hopefully, this sets you and your buddy straight.

The 327 numbers cast into the side of this Gen II block bear no relationship to its displacement. Coincidentally, American Motors 1967-and-later 290, 304, 343, 360, 390, and 401 V8 blocks bear similar markings, but are not applied upside-down.

On the sample LT1 block: Though the block deck surface typically displays a string of characters, the final two or three—or the “suffix” of the item—are where the useful horsepower and transmission data is deciphered. Here, the YSH would be considered the “suffix code.”

Hull of a Deal

Herb Sunderland, via email: The one thing I can’t stand in my hot rods is a leaky engine. I always take extra time when sealing the oil pan to the block, but have a 340 Mopar small-block that’s driving me nuts. No matter what I do, this engine leaks oil from the rear main seal. I built this engine myself, but got the block and crank from a shop that handles a lot of marine engine repairs. They have a side line salvaging former powerboat V8s for use in cars. Thankfully, my 340 is in a 1973 Duster with a 904 Torqueflite. With a stick, the clutch disc would be contaminated by the leak. As it is, the stink of the oil burning off the hot exhaust system on highway trips made my girlfriend so sick she won’t ride in it anymore. Got any suggestions?

Steve Magnante: Herb, the fact your crank was sourced from a marine-oriented shop is telling, and it’s likely the root of the problem. I’ll bet your 340’s crank came out of a boat. And not just any boat, but a larger one with two engines, perhaps a cabin cruiser. Since the 1920s, builders of pleasure craft saw mounting two automobile engines as a cost-effective and lighter alternative to a single, larger marine diesel engine.

Positioned in the hull side by side (tandem mount), twin-engine boats naturally require two propellers, and this is where things get sticky. Automobile engines are designed to run in a clockwise rotation (as viewed from the front of the engine). Straight off the dock, vehicle-sourced engines would churn the propellers counter-clockwise as viewed facing the stern (rear) of the boat. This would result in a constant need to counter-steer the rudder(s) to maintain a straight path through the water—a losing prop-osition.

To cancel this nasty effect, one of the two propellers must be made to turn in the opposite direction from its mate. This can be done with an intermediary gearbox between the crankshaft and propeller, but adds complexity and cost. The simpler path was to reconfigure the ignition, camshaft, water pump (where applicable), and other systems to turn the crank in the opposite of the traditional direction.

One little detail that’s a big deal in reverse-rotation engines is the reversal of the surface treatment applied to the crank surface that rides on the rear main seal. As with most engines (regardless of rotation), minute helix cuts are knurled to the surface to function as an Archimedes pump. Thus while in motion, oil is rolled back into the pan. Beware, the rear main seal must be a correct match to the direction of crank rotation and the type of helix surface present. Inside most Chrysler Marine engines, you’ll find specific helix treatments on the crankshaft and matched rear main seals to control oil flow. The picture shows the details.

Getting back to your 340, remembering that the 340 shares the same 3.312-inch stroke, 2.50-inch main bearing journal diameters, and 2.125-inch crankpin diameters as any 273 or 318 crank, I’d bet you’ve got the crank from a Chrysler Marine 318 V8 in your 340; it’s a direct fit, except for the helix orientation.

Chrysler’s Marine and Industrial division was formed in 1927, and through its sale in 1980 as part of the Chrysler Corp. Loan Guarantee Act with Uncle Sam, offered marine versions of just about every Chrysler passenger-car engine ever made. The resulting waterborne engines got names like Majestic, Ace, Royal, Crown, Super Crown, and Commando and included the Space Saver, a Slant Six that rested flat on its right-hand (starboard) side deep in the hull. There was even a version of the 426 Race Hemi offered in 1965. With two Keith Black–built supercharged Marine Hemis, a boat called Miss Chrysler Crew averaged 100.671 mph on the Detroit River to win the 1967 unlimited hydroplane Gold Cup trophy.

Back to your engine, I’d bet that if you pull your 340’s crank, it’ll have the boat-type helix surface (slanting left). If so, they’re pumping oil at the exhaust plumbing and nasty fumes up your lady friend’s nose. This feature of rotation-specific helix surfacing is also seen in marine engines of other makes. Owners of reverse-rotation Chevrolet big-blocks have to be sure to use the right rear main seal (see it in the picture, Fel-Pro Marine PN 17740). The reverse-rotation rear main seal you need can be found in Fel-Pro Marine gasket set (PN 17150).

One cool detail of interest to curious car crafters is that tandem-engine boat builders can tune boat-handling behavior by juggling what side of the hull they mount the reverse-rotation engine on. A so-called “in” setup (with the reverse-rotation engine on the left side of the hull) causes the tops of the propellers to both turn inward. This draws the stern down into the water under power and is the more common layout for its speed and minimized wake. Putting the reverse-rotation engine on the right side of the hull gives an “out” setup with props that turn away from each other. This increases stern lift under power. Cool, huh?

These crankshafts display three distinct main seal journal surface treatments. On the left is a neutral polished journal. The center passenger-car crank shows serrations that slant to the right. The marine crank (right) has its serrations cut in slanted to the left. The blue-ink slashes applied to the gray tape mirror the helix configurations for visual assistance.

Cold Hearted Wedge

Ron Scurra; via CarCraft@carcraft.com: I love NHRA Stock and Super Stock drag racing, especially the old Mopar Max Wedges. While chatting with some racers in the pits at Pomona during the 2017 Winternationals, the topic of engine blocks came up. The guys were saying there’s a special, extra-thick block made in the 1970s that all the Max Wedge guys try to use. I always heard the factory Max Wedge blocks of 1962–1964 were the best of the best. What’s the story on this mystery block?

Steve Magnante: The Stock and Super Stock classes are the best at maintaining the link between what fans take to the Pomona parking lot and what they see win on the strip surface. The Maxies were there at the beginning, but I’m thrilled to see the new Drag Pak Challengers, Cobra Jet Mustangs and COPO Camaros picking up where those factory drag packages left off. To me, the modern ponycar classes should be made Pro pronto (versus Sportsman).

About that mythical block you heard the racers discuss, it was real and is likely better than a vintage Max Wedge block. More in a second, but first, the Max Wedge castings were identified by specific machined codes stamped atop the raised pad on the driver side of the block area over the timing-chain cover. They showed the letters MP (as in Maximum Performance), the displacement (413 in 1962, 426 in 1963–1964), and the assembly date. Also, blocks used in optional high-compression Max Wedges will also bear the letters HC after the MP stamping. I once owned a 1964 Stage III block that read 426 MP HC.

One other external detail that’s a bit controversial is the supposed elevated tin content used in Maxie blocks. Claimed by many to make the block and bores harder and less prone to wear, these supposed high-tin blocks bear the raised letters AAQA on the driver-side front face. True, original, unrestored Max Wedge cars exhibit the AAQA block casting every time, but I’ve also seen the AAQA on many early 1960s Slant Six and 318 polysphere blocks. There’s danger in generalizing that what is seen on one—or a handful—of blocks applies to all blocks, so who knows.

Barring re-stamped fakery, original 413 and 426 Max Wedge blocks are highly prized by racers and restorers alike. Since they were usually raced a bunch, standard bore examples are super-rare and worth a mint. Most today have at least one sleeve or are overbored 0.060 inch or more.

With the background established, the mystery block being discussed at Pomona was undoubtedly the elusive “cold weather” casting produced in the early 1970s for 440 engines sold for use in cold-weather climates. We’re not talking New Hampshire in the winter here, but rather Earth’s most extreme settings. Places like Alaska, the North Pole, and so on. Quickly identified by several vertical and horizontal raised webs on each side of the block, the extra reinforcement no doubt helps these blocks resist the jacking effect of freezing coolant inside the water jackets. While no iron block casting can alter the reality that water takes up 7 percent more space when frozen than it does in its liquid state, these blocks certainly gave an extra margin of safety in Earth’s most extreme climates. Inside, the webs connecting the main journal saddles to the crankcase are thicker and lack the scalloped reliefs seen on standard 440 blocks. This was part of the rigidity-enhancement strategy, but serves the racer well in high-horsepower builds.

Why would drag racers want these blocks when standard blocks survive just as well without the 12 extra pounds imposed by the cold-weather block’s extra thickness? In the world of Stock and Super Stock, where the block flexing loads imposed by supercharging and nitrous aren’t encountered, these extra-rigid blocks would seem a waste. That is, until you consider their likely ability to better resist cylinder distortion under load. Veteran East Coast Mopar racer Jerry “Teacher’s Pet” Stein once told your author he cherished these cold-weather blocks for that exact reason. His aluminum-nose 1963 Plymouth wasn’t severely handicapped by the block’s 12 extra pounds.

That’s the story of the cold-weather 440 engine block. You can check your garage, but chances of finding one are slimmer than slim. But at least the mystery is solved.

This cold-weather 440 block displays the breed’s many added webs and wears a 5-12-72 (May 12, 1972) casting date. The topside stamped data pad reads “J440 7 8 E.” This decodes to 1973 model year vehicle (J), 440 cubic inches, final assembled on July 8 (7, 8) and cast-iron crank (E).

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Albert Einstein’s Unique Approach to Thinking

“I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.” — Albert Einstein

In the arena of scientific achievement and the quest to discover genius, Albert Einstein stands alone. He remains a profoundly important figure who undertook extraordinary, groundbreaking work that not only shaped the pillars of modern physics but greatly influenced the philosophy of science.

Quite literally, Einstein changed the way we see and travel across the world and cosmos. He was responsible for the world’s most famous equation and for discovering the theory of relativity, considered to be mankind’s highest intellectual discovery.

Einstein went about his work in unique ways. From visualization to daydreaming and even a dash of musical inspiration, Einstein’s creative insights and philosophical vantage points help guide the work we tackle today.

The power of play

“A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.” — Albert Einstein

Einstein took breaks from his work to play the violin. Beethoven favored “long, vigorous walks” in which he carried a pencil and blank sheet music. Mahler, Satie, and Tchaikovsky all believed in the power of the regularly-scheduled mid-day walk.

For some, it’s walks and breaks in the day. For others, it’s applying time to deep interest in areas that are completely different from their professional work. From music to painting, the pursuit of creative endeavors has the ability to help us discover and connect what we know to what we aspire to know.  

He viewed taking music breaks as an important part of his creative process. In addition to music, he was a proponent of ‘combinatory play’ — taking seemingly unrelated things outside the realms of science (art, ideas, music, thoughts), and blending them together to come up with new ideas. It’s how he came up with his most famous equation, E=mc2.

“Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought,” Einstein wrote in a letter (italicized in part below) to Jacques S. Hadamard, who was studying the thought process of mathematicians.

“…Words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought. The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be “voluntarily” reproduced and combined…but taken from a psychological viewpoint, this combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought — before there is any connection with logical construction in words or other kinds of signs which can be communicated to others.”  —Albert Einstein

Creativity can’t be taught, but it can be harnessed and embraced. Nothing stokes the fires of our creative wants more than the thought of instantaneous creative inspiration—the lightning bolt or apple falling from the sky. In reality, creativity blossoms when you feed it like a fire hungry for more logs. And, creativity reaches its maximum potential when it’s stoked in combination with knowledge, ideas, and skills you’ve acquired throughout life. It’s why filmmakers seek out inspiration in art museums and why composers find notes in the daily music of everyday life.

Ideas and interludes

As Maria Popova, author of Brainpickings writes, organic synthesis of ideas happens when we step back and examine the patterns. Don’t mistake these moments for the illustrious and oft-debated lightning bolt of inspiration, even though they can happen while we are walking, showering, or even meditating. Think of them as important moments that are part of a sequential creative process that happen while we work and play. Think of the work as peering through the lens of a microscope in a lab, and the creativity starts to percolate when you take a break from the lab, pick up an instrument, or go for a walk.

These interludes helped Einstein connect the dots of his experiments at opportune moments when he picked up the violin. “I fell in love with Albert because he played Mozart so beautifully on the violin,” recalled his second wife, Elsa. “He also plays the piano. Music helps him when he is thinking about his theories. He goes to his study, comes back, strikes a few chords on the piano, jots something down, returns to his study.”

Beauty in the science

“This kind of mental play uses both unconscious and conscious thinking: scanning various stimuli and information, perceiving patterns and clear or hidden similarities between things or ideas, and playing with their interconnections, relationships, and links,” notes researcher Victoria Stevens, who explored the neuroscience of creativity in To Think Without Thinking.

Stevens notes that the link between problem solver and creative thinker is essential. “Combinatory play provides a fertile field for neuroaesthetic investigation into the direct link between play, imagination, creativity, and empathy,” she writes.

While this imaginative combinatory play was an essential part of Einstein’s productive thought, the same type of thinking and a playful nature are essential to all artistic creations.  

“Personally, I experience the greatest degree of pleasure in having contact with works of art,” Einstein said. “They furnish me with happy feelings of intensity that I cannot derive from other sources.”

Einstein’s work was greatly influenced by art, and influenced artists, in turn.

Salvador Dali’s surrealist work has roots in the tiniest scientific elements of Einstein’s work. Dali had great interest in quantum mechanics and nuclear physics, and these atomic particles are the foundation of his painting The Persistence of Memory, thought by some to represent the flexing of time.

Daydreaming FTW

Einstein’s early academic and learning struggles are often debated.

As a 15 year old, he dropped out of school. Einstein left school because his teachers didn’t approve of visual imagination for learning, skills which became fundamental to his way of thinking. “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” Einstein would say.

It’s no coincidence that around the same time, Einstein began to use thought experiments that would change the way he would think about his future experiments. His first, at age 16, saw him chasing after a light beam which would help launch his discovery of special relativity.

His innate ability to conceptualize complex scientific details became a hallmark of his research. His work on gravity was influenced by imagining riding a free-falling elevator. This flight of fancy eventually led him to understand that gravity and acceleration were essentially the same.  

Using these simple thought experiments, Einstein was able to understand that time and space are both shaped by matter—the basis for the theory of general relativity. It’s astonishing that this thought experiment changed everything we thought we knew about the universe. Newton’s ideas of the universe were one-dimensional, but Einstein proposed that our universe was four dimensions, where stars, planets, and celestial bodies formed a “fabric” that were dynamically influenced by the bending and curving of gravitational pull.

Only recently has mankind been equipped to explore much of what his theory had proposed—supernovas, black holes, and the evolution of our solar system.

An enduring legacy

Nearly a century later, Einstein’s legacy remains strong as ever. His theories of gravity, space, and time continue to influence a new generation of scientists. As Einstein continued his work, he maintained a natural sense of understanding of the world and compassion and kindness about people around him.

It’s only fitting that he was very aware of the incredibly short time we have on this planet, while at the same time understanding that all the work he accomplished was directly related to those who came before him. It’s comforting to know that he realized his work would be instrumental for all those who had yet to arrive.

“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people…a hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving,” Einstein said.

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